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Compassionate and Collective Leadership for Cultures of High-Quality Care

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Connecting Healthcare Worker Well-Being, Patient Safety and Organisational Change

Part of the book series: Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being ((AHSW))

Abstract

Human societies function by having shared values that guide decision-making, resource allocation and relationships. A central value in all societies, countries and cultures is compassion—a value that shapes our reaction to those who are suffering and in need of help. Compassion is elicited when we perceive another’s suffering with the intention to act to help.

Recent research has demonstrated that compassion is a powerful element of health care, affecting both patient outcomes and clinician well-being. In this chapter, we explore how understanding compassion is key to responding effectively to the triple challenge of ensuring high-quality care for our populations, the well-being of those who provide care, and the effective functioning of health care organisations that provide the context for that care.

The chapter describes the global workforce crisis we face and the current challenges for healthcare before drawing on large scale studies and data sets from research in the UK National Health Service (NHS). This research shows how organisational culture is at the heart of the triple challenge and the key elements that must be present for cultures of high-quality care, staff well-being and organisational effectiveness. Ensuring these cultural elements are in place is in turn dependent on the leadership of health care organisations—leadership at every level.

The research evidence suggests that compassionate leadership is both highly effective and key to creating cultures of high-quality and compassionate care. Given the nature of the health care workforce, both highly motivated and highly skilled, hierarchical leadership is not only inappropriate but counter-productive. It is vital to ensure there is collective leadership.

The chapter describes the rationale and research evidence for both compassionate and collective leadership. A programme for achieving this at practice and at scale at national level is described along with data on the success of this programme across the UK and internationally.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster, UK

    Michael A. West

  2. The King’s Fund, London, UK

    Michael A. West

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  1. Michael A. West
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Correspondence to Michael A. West .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education & Social Policy, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Anthony Montgomery

  2. Health Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands

    Margot van der Doef

  3. Health Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Efharis Panagopoulou

  4. Industrial and Organisational Psychology, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia

    Michael P. Leiter

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West, M.A. (2020). Compassionate and Collective Leadership for Cultures of High-Quality Care. In: Montgomery, A., van der Doef, M., Panagopoulou, E., Leiter, M.P. (eds) Connecting Healthcare Worker Well-Being, Patient Safety and Organisational Change. Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60998-6_13

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